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Wednesday, April 1, 1998

WELL, WHO IS WHO, ANYWAY? The Canadian Who's Who 199

WELL, WHO IS WHO, ANYWAY?
April 1, 1998, Books in Canada

Canadian Who’s Who 1997
Elizabeth Lumley ed.
University of Toronto Press
ISBN 0-8020-49966

There is nothing nosy about wanting to know who people are. It is
natural and proper to want to know where people come from, what they
do, what family they have, even how old they are. For years I have kept
an old copy of Canadian Who’s Who
handy and made regular use of it to fill in the background of people I
have read about or run into or just heard mentioned but could not
place. The earnestly casual manners under which people are introduced
as Sue or Joe without even a surname to hang on to suppose that our
mere humanity is all we need to know, while treating names like pets’
names, simply something to answer to. But we are constituted by every
fact about us. If we can know some basic facts about each other, we can
have a more genuine regard for each other than the abstract respect
enjoined by modern correctness.

Nor is there anything vain about making some basic facts about oneself
publicly available. It is a courtesy to save people the trouble of
piecing them together over time and to be open and direct. Perhaps in
time most of us will have Web pages on the Internet. For now, for most
of us, a telephone book listing is the extent of published information
available. To get any more detail into a volume even the size of the
Toronto telephone book requires a selection to be made. It is the job
of a Who’s Who to collect the basic facts about those people who,
because of their activity, we are likely to hear of and want to know
something about. The Canadian Who’s Who
does that job for Canada and does it pretty well. It is the only
biographical reference book in Canada that is not restricted to some
profession or calling and that does not charge for a listing or expect
people it includes to buy a copy. Its limitations perhaps say more
about Canadians than any failure of effort or judgment in the editors
or staff as they undertake their massive task each year. Now that it is
available on CD-ROM it is more useful than ever. Every library and most
offices should have one. Individuals should save up and buy one every
few years. They never lose their interest and your grandchildren will
be grateful for their inheritance.

The obvious test of any biographical reference work is who’s in and
who’s out. With more than fifteen thousand entries, up from twelve
thousand only six years ago, there should be room for anyone one might
hear of. A conscious effort has been made since the University of
Toronto Press bought the publication in 1978 to get beyond the
politicians and businessmen who in the past made up the largest portion
of the entries and to include artists, writers, scientists and sports
figures. Despite the editors’ best efforts the list of prominent
Canadians who are not in would be a long one. Not surprisingly,
politicians are still well represented. The federal cabinet and party
leaders, the premiers, are all there. But most members of parliament
remain nobodies, though over eighty senators are in. Andrew Thompson is
there, if not in Ottawa. He does not list his Mexican home. Perhaps
Svend Robinson is the best known missing M.P. Ontario opposition leader
Dalton McGuinty and NDP leader Howard Hampton are missing, though
McGuinty’s predecessor Lyn McLeod, who always had a recognition
problem, is in.

In the media Pamela Wallin, Wendy Mesley and Lloyd Robertson are in but
Peter Mansbridge is not. In painting Alex Colville and Paterson Ewen
are in but Atilla Richard Lukacs and John Meredith are not. In music
the composers, Murray Schaefer, Harry Somers and the rest are well
represented, but tenor Ben Heppner and conductor, impresario and
Companion of the Order of Canada Nicholas Goldschmidt are not. Lawyer
John McKellar is in but his son, actor, director and scriptwriter Don
is not.

If distinguished and prominent Canadians are missing it is not for want
of the editors trying. They are practically speaking completely
dependent on their subjects responding to their enquiries for entries.
Over five thousand invitations to submit information for new entries
produced only about seventeen hundred new entries for this edition.
They have tried to get a response from some people for years without
success. Some people may just be too lazy to reply, or think that there
is some catch, that they will have to pay to get in, at least for a
copy of the book, as they would have to for many apparently similar
books. Some may think it is pretentious to be in Who’s Who; but if you
are a celebrity anyway such modesty must be false. Some people may be
concerned about their privacy. For people who have already been the
subject of media profiles, such concern would be equally false. The
information provided is anyway is not compromising and under the
control of the subject.

The entries follow a standard form: name with any title and degrees;
occupation such as author, lawyer or politician; place and date of
birth; parents; education; family; present position; career;
memberships; politics; religion; recreations and address. Again Canadian Who’s Who
is entirely dependent on its subjects for how and how much of this form
is filled. The results can be disappointing. Barbara Amiel of course
omits her date of birth. Alan Fotheringham omits his parents. So does
Art Eggleton, who seems to have done nothing before being elected to
Toronto’s City Council at age 26. One expects to find in Who’s Who
where people went to school or university and for a politician what was
his taking off point. Eggleton also omits his occupation. His cabinet
colleague Pierre Pettigrew changed his occupation from politician to
statesman for the 1997 edition, getting pilloried in Frank for his
pains. Catherine Callaghan simply says she is Senior Editor at Chatelaine
and gives her office address. As anyone who might look her up would
know that much, there is no point to the entry. The editors must have
been so grateful for any response that their judgment was clouded.

Knowing where people live can say a lot about them but many people just
give office addresses. Some, like actor Donald Sutherland, just give an
agent’s address. Mordecai Richler and his son Daniel both give “c/o
McClelland & Stewart”. Gordie Howe gives no address at all.

Some people have altogether too much to say about themselves. Roberta
Bondar’s trip in space has led to her receiving 22 honorary degrees in
Canada together with many other awards and a whole column of special
lectureships, fellowships and committee and patron appointments. The
entry badly needs editing. The length of entries seems to have been
left to the subjects and is no measure of their celebrity or
achievement. Jean Chrétien says enough in three inches. Brian Mulroney
modestly takes two. Trudeau takes six. Sculptor Elizabeth Holbrook goes
over twenty inches describing all her works. If Canadian Who’s Who
is ever going to bring in the large number of notable Canadians who are
not in and keep the volume to a manageable size in readable print some
limit on the length of entries will have to be set and the editors will
have to do some editing.

Apart from the few like Catherine Callaghan, and Gordon Capital
vice-chairman James Conacher, who are not prepared to say anything
about themselves, there seems no reason to drop anyone. The more the
merrier. Judith Anderson is a lawyer in Vancouver but nothing in her
entry indicates why she should be in when perhaps two thousand other
lawyers in Vancouver are not. The effort to include artists has relied
too much on membership in the Royal Canadian Academy, sadly no longer
the assurance of standing in the visual arts that it once was. But the
book is most useful in its coverage of the more obscurely accomplished.
The famous we may know well enough already or have other sources for.
Several of the famous missing from Canadian Who’s Who are in The
Canadian Encyclopedia: Heppner, Goldschmidt and Svend Robinson.

The book is about who is who and entries are dropped when the subject dies. Books in Canada
founder Val Clery, however, is still in though he died in the fall of
1996 and this edition is sufficiently up to date to reflect at least
partly the results of the June 1997 federal election. Conversely Idler magazine founder David Warren who is still alive and well and busy at the Ottawa Citizen disappeared when the Idler died in 1993. Generally people are in for life, though many stop responding when they retire.

A selection of foreign diplomats posted to Ottawa is included and there
are several expatriate stars: Joni Mitchell and Neil Young; Christopher
Plummer and Donald Sutherland. Oddly, Body Shop founder and C.E.O.
Anita Roddick is in, apparently on the strength of her 118 shops in
Canada and an honorary degree from Victoria University.

The editors must largely take the information they are provided on
faith hoping that the embarrassment of published fibs will keep their
subjects honest. They should however be strict about titles. David
Berger, our ambassador to Israel, titles himself “His Excellency”. In
accordance with diplomatic formalities he is His Excellency in Tel
Aviv. In this country he is plain Mr. Berger. Not a career diplomat but
for fifteen years a Liberal member of parliament, Berger may not know
that. Who’s Who
should. As should our man in Quito, David Adam, and our man in
Brussels, Jean-Paul Hubert, both career diplomats. The couple of dozen
other Canadian Ambassadors abroad, including Raymond Chrétien, do not
make the same mistake.

A sillier instance is John Marvin Mitchell. His 1991 entry describes a
plausible career in financial services. By 1996 he has added a series
of publications on motivation and negotiation and several odd
distinctions including listings in dubious biographical reference books
such as International-Men of Achievment and International Who’s Who of Intellectuals
and Most Admired Man of the Decade, American Biographical Institute and
One in a Million, International Biographical Centre. In 1997 he adds
“Mem., Order of the Holy Grail-Knight” and, on the strength of that
presumably, titles himself “His Excellency The Hon.”. One hopes that
most of this is tongue in cheek, but it is weak humour and the editors
should not indulge it.

With the decay of political allegiance in recent decades few people now
list their politics. Most who do are Liberals. Even most politicians do
not bother to say what they are, perhaps because it is obvious from
their career, though Bob Rae tells us that he is NDP. Many
Conservatives who state their politics say just that: Conservative,
without the official Progressive qualifier. It is a conservative thing
to have a conscious long term political allegiance.

Perhaps 15% of the entries list a religion. Anglicans, oddly, seem the
most numerous. Most who do not list a religion must still have some
religious attachment. Religion is perhaps no longer seen as saying much
about who we are. It is more seen as a private matter that the public
need not know about.

There is no French edition of Who’s Who,
but 195 entries are written in French. Parizeau’s entry is in French.
Bouchard’s in English. French Canadians are under-represented in
relation to their proportion of the population, but the 195 entries in
French represent only a fraction of the entries for French Canadians.

Sport often brings fleeting fame. The inclusion of practically the
whole synchronised swimming team from the 1996 Olympics brings in
Valérie Hould-Marchand, who, turning 18 on May 29, is the youngest
person in the book. Casting the net that broadly could bring in
hundreds of amateur athletes destined for lives of obscurity after
their moment of glory. Donovan Bailey belongs in, if he never
accomplishes anything again, but amateur athletes had better wait until
they show whether they are going to establish a career, like skier, now
sports commentator, Steve Podborski. Generally professional players are
under represented. The superstars of hockey are in: Beliveau, Gretzky,
Howe, Hull, Lafleur, Orr. The heroes of 1972, Paul Henderson and Ken
Dryden, are not. Alan Eagleson is perhaps the only convicted criminal
in the book.

CD-ROM is an ideal medium for works of reference. Canadian Who’s Who
has wisely not added any mixed media bells and whistles to its CD-ROM.
It gives us just the text. The added value comes from search, copy,
print and bookmark functions. You can find people by surname or given
name, occupation, position or title, birthday, birthyear or birthplace,
creative works, recreations, clubs, address by city, region or postal
code or do a full text search for any words you like. Unfortunately
there is no search field for education. If you want to find people who
went to Trent University, you have to search the words Trent AND
University. This calls up anyone who ever taught their or received an
honorary degree or had any connection with any university and had a
family member called Trent. The CD-ROM makes sticking to the format for
entries more important. Future editions of the CD-ROM could be much
more easily searched if the format was better used. As it is, many
searches are tricky because information is given in different places
and different forms. There is no easy way to find all the heads of the
chartered banks or all the generals or admirals in the Canadian Forces.
But you can easily find the oldest person in the book, retired diplomat
and journalist Fulgence Charpentier, who will be 101 in June, or how
many people were born in Kamloops, ten including jazz composer Phil
Nimmons and Diefenbaker cabinet minister Davie Fulton, or look up all
the playwrights, of whom there are forty-seven.

Canadian Who’s Who
cannot get much bigger. Perhaps another couple of thousand entries
could be squeezed in. If it is to get any better notable Canadians will
have to overcome their shyness and coyness and perhaps a bit of
laziness and be more forthcoming in supplying material for their
entries. If they do, the editors may have to make difficult judgments
to accommodate the most useful entries. But, perhaps like The Canadian Encyclopedia, Canadian Who’s Who
should abandon the book and once it has mastered the medium publish
only in CD-ROM or, shortly, DVD-ROM. The editors might balk at the work
and the cost might be prohibitive, but then there would be room for
everyone and we could really get to know each other.